“Thank you,” I said without thought.
She brushed off my gratitude. “How long have you been down here?”
“What time is it?”
“Half five.”
“I think Tom returned at about half one, maybe two.”
“The servants say Tom believes Hugh is at the dower house?”
“That is the hope.”
“You do not think so?”
“The bridge was down, and Tom found Perseus on the other side.”
“Ah, they left that out,” she said with a strange kind of flat-calm in her tone.
“I am sure they did not wish to worry you needlessly.”
“And yet... here I sit. With my terrible drink.”
I took a sip, it tasted of pine needles as well. “Hugh favors scotch.”
“He does, would you prefer a glass of that?”
“It helps?” I asked.
“It does.”
“Yes, thank you.”
She rose, taking the gin from me and tipping it into her nearly empty glass. She poured me a glass of scotch. Warm smoke and vanilla enveloped me the second the glass hit my hand. I took an eager sip, and it burned before settling, warm in my chest. The feeling was familiar, like his kisses. A second sip and I could taste him too, hot and keen against my lips. Just the smallest bit of tension left my spine.
“My son loves you.” No other sentence could have pulled my gaze away from the window, but that did. “And it seems that you love him,” she added.
It felt awkward and wrong to acknowledge that feeling to anyone but Hugh, least of all Agatha. Fortunately, she was convinced without confirmation. “You are not what I would have wished for my son,” she added.
“I know.”
“I love him.”
“I know that, too,” I replied.
“Not yet, perhaps some day. You are not yet a mother.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
“That being said, regardless of my wishes and for better or worse, you are his wife.”
“Yes.”
“He was miserable without you. Do not leave again,” she warned.
“All right.” It was a surprisingly easy concession to make.
“His display at supper the other night, and his coldness toward me since have made it clear that he will cut me out for your benefit.” There was nothing to be added to that, but another sip warmed me still further. “It has not been easy, you know,” she continued. “To see a woman so inferior in situation and rank to myself insinuate herself into my home and my life and systematically change things I once held dear.”
